The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State yesterday
accused the PDP governorship candidate in the state, Chief
Iyiola Omisore, of encouraging the terror culture by going
about with a masked guard.
The APC said the objective is to intimidate the electorate.

The APC Director of Publicity and Strategy in the state, Kunle
Oyatomi said in a statement that Omisore and the masked
armed man have been spotted at campaign rallies.

The party said: “While President Jonathan fights armed and
masked terrorists in the North with Nigerian soldiers, the
reverse is being done in Osun by Jonathan’s man, hiding
behind security cover to intimidate the electorate with
masked and armed suspect terrorist guards.”

It called for “a full scale investigation by the security
agencies, if it was not privy to the exercise,” saying “this
potentially dangerous dimension of electioneering violence
is a high risk factor that can derail democracy and threaten
Nigeria’s corporate existence.”

The APC also alleged that the PDP has “brought in bales of
fake police uniforms with substantial arms into the state with
the intention to replicate the scenario of Ekiti and enact the
bombing experience in Ile Ife, in several other cities of the
state.”

It deplored the impunity with which the PDP and Omisore are
operating and said that “as the August 9 election approaches,
PDP’s desperation to win by force of arms rather than the
votes of the people is manifesting ever so clearly. Political
terrorism has arrived in Nigeria’s democratic space by the
evil construct of the PDP.”

It said the only theme of Omisore at his rallies is
‘arrangement has already been made to remove Aregbesola
from office no matter whatever he is doing,’ without
articulating a plan of governance for Osun.

In a separate statement yesterday, Oyatomi warned the PDP,
Omisore and others against “breaching the peace of the state
to stop causing chaos in the guise of political campaigns.”

It said the warning was necessitated by the rising wave of
planned violent political attacks on the supporters of the All
Progressive Congress (APC) across the state.

The APC therefore cautioned “agents and promoters of
conflicts and chaos to refrain from such acts or face the wrath
of the law.”

It drew attention to the political violence said to have been
averted by the State Police Command in Obokun Local
Government Area of the state on Friday in a fashion that
followed similar attacks on the supporters of the APC at Ila-
Oragun, Iwo, Ikirun, and the destruction of Governor Rauf
Aregbesola’s campaign billboards along Osogbo-Ilesha Road
and Ibokun and Ile-Ife.

It said: “Since PDP’s exit from power, however, peace
returned to Osun. Our people have from 2010 embraced the
peace and harmony that Aregbesola’s government heralded.

It has been shown to the whole world that this state values,
enjoys and promotes harmonious living among its various
peoples.

“This is one of the cardinal programmes of the APC
government. Ours is not a government that fans the embers of
disquiet, discord and chaos.”